(Reuters) - France's Total said on Friday it would spend C$1.75 billion ($1.8 billion) to forge a partnership with Suncor Energy in Canada's oil sands, the latest foreign push into a booming new source of oil wealth. The French oil giant and Canada's largest energy company announced deals encompassing three projects in Alberta, where Asian investors have already been pouring funds into tarry deposits which have opened a new frontier in oil supplies.

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(Reuters) - Oracle Corp forecast that its profit in the current quarter will beat Wall Street estimates, suggesting that its strategy of offering a one-stop shop for software and hardware is paying off. Shares in the company run by Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison rose almost 4 percent after it also reported new software sales surged past its own forecasts. "It's a nice present for shareholders," a JP Morgan analyst told Oracle executives during an earnings conference call.

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(Reuters) - Level 3 Communications Inc asked U.S. antitrust officials to set conditions on Comcast Corp's planned acquisition of NBC Universal that would assure "unfettered access" to all internet content. The move represents Level 3's latest retaliation against a fee Comcast is charging it for increased network traffic. Level 3 operates internet backbone networks but also offers content delivery network (CDN) services, which enable clients like Netflix to store and stream movies online. The CDN business has grown as consumers increasingly turn to the internet for entertainment and shopping.

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(Reuters) - The U.S. Congress gave final approval late on Thursday to the deal President Barack Obama and Republicans made to extend expiring tax cuts -- a high-stakes gamble to create jobs at a cost of deepening the U.S. debt. Over objections from many of Obama's fellow Democrats, the House of Representatives, on a 277-148 vote, passed the $858 billion package of renewed tax cuts and more unemployment benefits in an economy saddled with a nearly 10 percent jobless rate.

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(Reuters) - The bad loans ratio for Spanish banks rose to its highest level in almost 15 years in October, the Bank of Spain said on Friday, as a stagnant economy and high unemployment weighed on debt repayments. Unpaid loans by Spain's financial sector, including banks, financial cooperatives and retail credit cards, rose to 5.66 percent as a ratio of total lending from 5.49 percent a month earlier, the central bank said.

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(Reuters) - China will be able to keep a grip on inflation next year, but will have a harder time in coping with hot money inflows fanned by loose polices in the West, chief banking regulator Liu Mingkang said on Friday. Chinese consumer inflation raced to a 28-month high in November, rising 5.1 percent from a year earlier, and the country's top leaders have declared that stabilizing prices is a priority next year.

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(Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund approved a 22.5 billion euros loan for Ireland on Thursday and said it was open to re-negotiating parts of the bailout package with a new Irish government provided the overall targets were adhered to. "The fact that the IMF board approved this program, knowing that there is going to be an election in a few months, is a clear sign that the board believes that across the political spectrum there is a clear endorsement of the objectives," Ajay Chopra, deputy director of the IMF's European Department, told Ireland's national broadcaster.

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(Reuters) - Three technology company executives and a salesman for an "expert network" firm were arrested and charged with leaking confidential tips to hedge funds, including secret details about Apple Inc's iPad ahead of its launch. The case is part of a widening probe of insider trading, which intensified with a string of raids on hedge funds last month and subpoenas for information about their activities.

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(Reuters) - The long running round of Doha world trade talks could finally run out of steam in 2011 if no deal is reached, the European Union's top trade official said on Thursday. "I fully believe if we do not manage to get a deal done next year, there is a very big risk Doha will never get done," EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in remarks at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

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(Reuters) - Overall financial bailout costs look cheap compared to past crises, with the final net cost of U.S. Treasury rescue efforts likely under $25 billion, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday. Geithner told bailout overseers that the Treasury expects to earn a profit on its remaining support for banks, automakers, credit markets and American International Group as part of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, although it would likely lose money on its housing support programs.

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